Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
The food industry typically is geared for the mass production of various different types of food products intended for consumption by animals, including humans. A mass production assembly line often requires physically large pieces of equipment to handle the volume. Typically, the manufacturing process involves many steps, all of which must be performed at different stations. For example, a typical process for producing a food product (e.g., animal food) may include mixing the ingredients, emulsifying the mixture, shaping or extruding the emulsion into xe2x80x9cropes,xe2x80x9d cooking the ropes in a steam tunnel, cutting the cooked product, and storing the cooked product in accumulators until needed for later processing. The process further may include mixing the cooked product with other ingredients (e.g., a gravy), dispensing the mixed product into pouches, sealing the pouches, sterilizing the pouches, and commercial packaging of the final product. It can be seen from this example that numerous stations and large pieces of equipment are needed, all of which may require a large manufacturing facility. Thus, a mass production assembly line often is capital intensive.
To attain the most efficient use of production equipment, a particular assembly line often may be used to manufacture different variations of a food product. For example, the same assembly line might be used to produce a food product made of either chicken or beef. To prevent contamination, the assembly line must be broken down and thoroughly cleaned and sterilized after producing the first variety before the line can be used to produce the second variety of the food product. Stopping and cleaning the assembly line is costly, both in terms of labor and time.
Such cost concerns dictate that large runs of a particular variety of a food product should be completed before stopping and preparing the assembly line for another variety of the food product. However, large runs of a food product mean that mass quantities of the product must be stored until needed. Oftentimes, spoilage and waste may result from inventorying the food product, thus further affecting the cost associated with a mass production facility.
For some food products, it may be desirable to produce relatively small batches at a given time to minimize spoilage and waste. However, it may be cost-prohibitive to use a mass production assembly line to manufacture low volumes of the product due to the expenses associated with stopping and preparing the line for production of a new product. Thus, it would be desirable to provide an assembly line that was cost effective for small batch production of a particular food product or variety of a food product. Using smaller equipment and reducing the number of stations through which the food product must pass could realize such cost effectiveness. For example, it would be advantageous to provide a station at which multiple processing steps could occur. In the case of an extruded or shaped food product, it would be desirable if the food product easily could be shaped and cooked in the same fixture.
In a conventional shaping fixture, an edible emulsion is fed or pumped into a nozzle block having a plurality ports. The continuous feeding of the emulsion into the nozzle block forces the emulsion through the block and out the ports, thus shaping the emulsion into ropes that are fed onto a large belt in the assembly line. The belt conveys the resulting ropes through a long steam tunnel in which they are cooked until reaching a temperature greater than 85 C. It would be desirable if the shaping and cooking of the emulsion could occur in a single fixture, thus eliminating the need for a lengthy conveyor belt and steam tunnel.
Although cooking could occur in the shaping fixture by application of thermal energy, it is likely that the cooking process will result in the cooked product adhering to the interior surface the shaping fixture due to the close accommodations therein. If sticking occurs, it may be difficult to remove the cooked product from the shaping fixture solely via the pushing force created by feeding additional emulsion into the fixture. Opening the fixture and knocking out the cooked product is cumbersome and thus is not a viable alternative.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a method and system of moving an emulsion through a shaping and cooking fixture without having to disassemble the fixture to remove the cooked product.
The present invention is directed to a system and method which moves a flowable substrate through a chamber in which the substrate is both heated and shaped. Thus, in accordance with a first aspect of the invention, a food manufacturing process comprises introducing a flowable substrate into a shaping structure having an elongate shaping chamber extending between first and second open ends. The flowable substrate is heated in the chamber to produce a cooked, shaped product. A pushing force is applied to the cooked product which is directed toward the second open end. The pushing force expels the cooked product from the chamber through the second open end. In one embodiment, the pushing force is provided by a pushing device insertable at the first open end. Vibrational energy also may be applied to the chamber to facilitate expelling the cooked product therefrom.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a system for manufacturing a product comprises a structure having at least one elongate chamber extending between first and second open ends. The structure also includes an inlet in communication with the elongate chamber to introduce a flowable substrate into the chamber. An energy source in communication with the structure is configured to heat the chamber to cook the flowable substrate therein. In one embodiment, a pushing device in communication with the first open end of the chamber is configured to apply a pushing force to the cooked substrate to cause it to exit the chamber through the second open end. In another embodiment, vibrational energy is applied to the structure to facilitate exit of the cooked substrate from the chamber through the second open end.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. The novel features which are believed to be characteristic of the invention, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages will be better understood from the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that each of the figures is provided for the purpose of illustration and description only and is not intended as a definition of the limits of the present invention.